I want to thank my wonderful friend who accepts a little bit of teasing about Michelle beating her in pushups -- (laughter) -- but I think she claims Michelle didn’t go all the way down. (Laughter.) That's what I heard. I just want to set the record straight -- Michelle outdoes me in pushups as well. (Laughter.) So she shouldn’t feel bad. She's an extraordinary talent and she's just a dear, dear friend -- Ellen DeGeneres. Give Ellen a big round of applause.

Take the poll. (Does that sound dirty to you?!) But before you do, consider that Obama has a bone to pick — does that sound dirty to you? — with Bill Clinton right now, and given the strong association between Bill Clinton and blowjobs and the suspicion that Obama is currently pissed at Bill Clinton, he may have been engaging in some subtle jousting with Bill Clinton — does that sound dirty to you? —about the sexual proclivities of their respective wives.

Did President Obama make a blowjob joke? What's most likely?

Yes. Completely intentional, with a touch of deniability written in.

Obama was mindlessly reading what was on the TelePrompTer, comic pauses included.

No one, not even the speech writer, intended the double meaning.

It's not a blowjob joke. People are looking for sexual meaning where there is none.

The look on his face, after he says "That's what I heard," shows very clearly, to me, that Obama did not realize there was a double entendre. He looks troubled in a way that is incongruous with his previous expression. This audience is laughing, and they are laughing too much for the context as he had understood it. He now knows why, and he is imagining other audiences hearing this and attacking him. When I saw that expression on his face, I genuinely felt sorry for him.

ALSO: As several commenters have noted, if it is a joke, it is more of a female-on-female oral sex joke, so the term "blowjob" — used by Buzzfeed at the link — is off.

98 comments:

"I want to thank my wonderful friend [Ellen] who accepts a little bit of teasing about Michelle beating her in pushups -- (laughter) -- but I think she claims Michelle didn’t go all the way down." (Laughter.)

No, in reference to DeGeneres, Obama's just trying to be a cunning linguist.

I don't know, I guess we live in a different age than we used to. That's no blowjob joke, and it strikes me as more than a little disrespectful to even suggest that it is. The President's policies and his character are fair game, but this stuff?

People snickering when it happened can be excused. But debating this in blogs the day after? What's really wrong with us?

I compare what was said to what could have been said and find that there are funnier punchlines available with stronger innuendo. I have to imagine that these were considered by the speech writers and rejected on purpose to avoid the innuendo. Therefore, I think this was not an oral sex joke, but the subject matter and context makes it seem like it was a setup for one.

For example, "but I think she claims that Michelle did not go down as well as she did' has much stronger innuendo. Could be followed up by "I can assure you that Michelle can go down like a pro."

On the other hand, the could have written the statement to have said "Ellen claims Michelle did not do complete pushups", which would have avoided the issue more completely, but if Ellen really did say "go down all the way" there is a sacrifice of accuracy.

Nah, typical Obama stuff - making a joke without any consideration that anyone will take it other than the way he meant it. Didn't run it by any inferior intellect to ask "Make sure there's nothing ridiculous here."

It's what you expect from the man. He's just no that witty, and alas he doesn't seem to realize it.

Am in agreement with those that so no sexual entendres in Mr Obama's comment--I would submit that that perception says more about the audience than it does about the President. I would also suggest that Mr Obama, as suggested above, really needs to understand that one of the roles of President is to respect his role of as president. In that, he fails miserably.

IF we're treating this seriously, then the question is whether it makes any sense as a joke that doesn't refer to oral sex between the First Lady and a high-visibility lesbian.

Was there some context in which it makes any sense to talk about a pushups contest involving the First Lady and a middling tv personality? Do they work out together occasionally? Is the FLOTUS known for her pushup prowess? (Cue the "Michelle's arms" jokes.) Is DeGeneres?

Next we consider the audience--the immediate target of a joke. Does the LGBT community have an exceptional interest in pushups or other forms of calisthenics--as compared, say, to its interest in oral sex?

Finally, is the "yes, it's about oral sex (though clearly NOT blowjobs)" interpretation consistent with the President's behavior at similar events?

On balance, I'd say that it probably was intended as an oral-sex joke. If I were to conduct an Althousian search for deep political motives, I'd say it's an attempt to get right wingers talking about something silly instead of the Wisconsin recall election.

OK, now I'm done pretending that it's worth the time I've just devoted to it.

When speaking to an audience organized along sexual lines, #OccupyResoluteDesk veered in the direction of a sexual joke.I don't know if it's the first time he's tossed her under the bus, but it may not be the last time that down there she goes.The previous sentence can also be re-arranged for double-entendre by the desirous reader.BHO needs the money, and this shows he'll say anything necessary for re-election. Because principles can be so limiting.

I think it was totally unintentional but his stumbling around afterwards highlights yet again the persistent question that has yet to be answered - Why in the world does anyone think he's the "world's greatest speaker", or even an approximation thereof? He's clumsy and heavy on his feet, not light. Throw him off his game for a second and he's gone. Where did this meme come from? Unless, maybe it can be reduced to "he's the world's greatest teleprompter reader". Perhaps that's true.

No, Obama, wasn't making a blow job joke. What is it with people? Can't a joke about pushups be a joke about pushups?

No. I don't think it was intentional either.

However....context matters when you are speaking.

Once again: Does this man have NO ONE who can vet his speeches!!! Review what he says before he speaks? Obama makes so many stupid errors, the Polish Death Camps being the latest and most serious, that you must wonder about either HIS intelligence or the lack of experience and intelligence in the people that surround him.

For the people who don't think this was an intentional double entendre, have you ever seen the picture of Jon Favreau, the President's main speechwriter, copping a feel on a cardboard cutout of Hillary Clinton? I don't think that a professional writing staff could possibly put that joke into a presidential speech intended for a gay and lesbian fundraiser in Hollywood and not know precisely what they were saying. I also think that there is a high likelihood that there is tension between Barack's staff and Michelle that the speechwriters are exposing... it's my sense that she isn't well-liked in the White House.

I know the point Meade was making (based on the book authored by William Ayers), but, in this case, it's been pretty well established Barry, much like Jimmy Carter, was born without a sense of humor and couldn't tell a joke unless TOTUS told him, "pregnant pause 2, 3, 4, here".

"Dust Bunny Queen said...does this man have NO ONE who can vet his speeches!!!!"

Right - I long for the gold old days when W advocated starting a "CRUSADE" or when they kept in the false "yellow cake" business in the state of the union or sent Powell to the UN with demonstrably false info. Of course those mistakes weren't nearly as serious as an inadvertent double entendre.

Right - I long for the gold old days when W advocated starting a "CRUSADE" or when they kept in the false "yellow cake" business in the state of the union or sent Powell to the UN with demonstrably false info. Of course those mistakes weren't nearly as serious as an inadvertent double entendre.

Because the very people working overtime trying to discredit this president gave the last one a pass for some very serious mistakes like the "Crusade" comment. Obama's "Polish Death Camp" was surprising - especially for a politician from Chicago. But it doesn't compare to the Bush gaffe which at the time nearly everyone on the right dismissed as unimportant.

So - this "incident" is just partisan sniping - in other words - bull shit.

Because the very people working overtime trying to discredit this president gave the last one a pass for some very serious mistakes like the "Crusade" comment.

Using a phrase like "the very people" insinuates that you have specifics. Please list them.

But it doesn't compare to the Bush gaffe which at the time nearly everyone on the right dismissed as unimportant.

How can you possibly quantify "nearly everyone on the right" in this context? If I thought Bush made a huge blunder by uttering "crusade" does it give me the moral authority to tell you you're wrong about this?

So - this "incident" is just partisan sniping - in other words - bull shit.

What other sort of sniping is there (other than the type Hillary claims to have dodged)?

When I read it, I thought it was unintentional and not a joke. I remember seeing a clip of the push-up contest and Michelle did cheat by only lowering herself halfway down while Ellen did full push-ups.

Then when I listened to the clip I thought it was meant as a joke. The audience sure seemed to think so.

Then I turned the sound off and watched. Obama did look dismayed. So if it was meant as a joke it looks like he didn't get it until that moment.

When you're doing push-ups that's the complaint, that the other person is only doing half a push-up, they don't go down all the way.

I can't even think of a different way to say it.

OTOH, and IMHO, I think that the Democrats as a group have spent every last credit they ever had with the "teabagger" nonsense, that the social environment that has resulted, where the President has to realize he just said his wife went all the way down, is a just and righteous consequence.

The Wis. Lt. Governor cheering about having the stones is another consequence and not her fault either. (But at least it was just sort of funny, and positive even with the "dirty" meaning.)

Put the blame where it belongs and don't bother feeling sorry for poor Obama.

(If there were equal opportunity blame we'd be hearing about the "fisting" with all those fist-clenched-in-the-air political posters.)

We called it "breaking the plane" when I was AF. Meaning, you go lower than the horizontal plan where your elbows are. PT instructors vary, but most of them don't want to see daylight between you and the ground, while others will let you just break the plane in order for the rep to count.

Because the very people working overtime trying to discredit this president gave the last one a pass for some very serious mistakes like the "Crusade" comment

@ Dave

Fuck you.

You have no idea what I have said or what I felt about Bush and his speech flubs. Don't try to put words into my mouth when you are clueless.

I am merely pointing out that Obama as President and as the speaker for the United States (supposedly) should be extremely careful about what he says, where he says, to whom he is speaking and to be positive that his statements are factual.

A President assumes awesome power and to treat his office as some sort of a stand up comedian or to continually and repeatedly make mistakes that reflect badly on the United States shows that he is either----> careless, sloppy, stupid, unsupervised, supervised by idiots or supervised and doesn't listen to his advisors.

This has nothing to do with Bush but is about the Office of the President of the United States.

I myself would appreciate a president with a self depricating sense of humor. Or even a little humility. Something so that I don't believe we're lead by self-serving egomaniacs. At least Bush II knew he wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.

@Dave re:Colin Powell

Are you referring to the speech that every major countries intelligence services agreed as being true?

Here's a catechism for you...the left can't open their mouths without lying in some form, literally,or by omission, or any other kind, period.

This guy is so lost all of a sudden. I think he knew a moment too late that the phrasing could be interpreted in a sexual manner, and probably would be given the audience, and paused to see if they would give him a pass. This crowd (Hollywood gays and lesbians) isn't programmed to overlook sexual double entendres so they didn't. Everyone tried to laugh it off but, man, that was so inappropriate. Cringe.

If he's talking to school kids, it's innocent. And it would have been taken innocently.

He's talking to gays and lesbians. He makes a joke about going down. They all laugh. Clearly the audience is taking it as a sex joke.

I think the joke was innocent. Obama talks to us like children all the time. He talks down to us.

Obama is not sexualized. He does not think about sex all the time. Obama thinks of gays and lesbians in a political way. (They give him money). He believes in vague concepts like equality. But he doesn't think about sex much.

I think about sex a lot. I think about it, joke about it, attack it, love it, obsess about it. Sex!

Obama is not like me. He's not like the people in the audience who laugh at a reference to oral sex. He's not hip. He's not cool. He's ideological and leftist, which to some is cool. But on the subject of sex Obama is utterly square.

If Republicans try to spread a rumor that Obama is having an affair, I call bullshit. No way. Doesn't even cross his mind. He's a sexual innocent and a bit of a prude. I would wager he's never been head over heels in love. He's never been destabilized by sex, never been passionate about sex, never gone crazy over sex. That's just not who he is.

Our culture is a very sexualized culture. Our culture informs us, and makes us more and more sexualized. Many right-wingers object to this part of our culture. They want Hollywood to repress sex more, to go back to making movies like they did in the 1940's.

Obama is weird as he is not part of our culture at all. It's like he missed all our cultural wars completely.

Obama was brought up Muslim and uptight about sex. Then he went through a pot-smoking libertarian period in Hawaii. Then he went through a racialized and Marxist period. And then he was President.

Contrast Bill Clinton. I suspect Bill Clinton went into politics so he could get more pussy. Clinton would launch missile strikes to distract us from his sex scandals. Clinton, like most liberals, supports abortion because babies interfere with our pursuit of sex.

Obama has ideological positions on abortion, on gay rights. He adopted them after reading about them in a book. He is utterly in his own head, aloof and detached and often oblivious.

This clip shows an utter disconnect--an embarrassing disconnect--between Obama and all the gays who are giving him money because he loves them.

"Dust Bunny Queen said...@ DaveFuck you.You have no idea what I have said or what I felt about Bush and his speech flubs. Don't try to put words into my mouth..."

You are correct that I don't know you or what you think. However, you are mistaken in assuming that I was referring to you. My statement was intentionally general. If I wanted to suggest what you thought (which, of course, I don't know), I would have made a specific comment about you.

It's a comic moment. Before another type of audience, the words pass by, but this audience picks up on it right away. No one--and this is especially true of Presidents and Emperors--likes to joke about their wife's oral sex skills in a public address. The President's discomfiture just adds to the joke.....For such a robust woman, Michelle seems somewhat small breasted. Perhaps he was making a joke about the placement of her push up bra, and you're all too stupid to understand it.

"Because the very people working overtime trying to discredit this president gave the last one a pass for some very serious mistakes like the "Crusade" comment."

Oh, Dave, please find yourself a new boogieman. Obama already ran against Bush once. He'd be stupid to do it ag.... Very well, as you wish. So who are these people who supposedly gave Bush a pass? Bush was hassled constantly, and still is, for various flaws and flubs both real and imagined. Imagined like this one. Calling the war on terrorism a "crusade" was a historically apt reference. My only criticism is that it was possibly unintentional, using "crusade" in the generic "I'd like to call it a war but that term's been overused" sense. But, hey, all the right people were pissed off for all the wrong reasons so on balance I'm okay with it.

By contrast, the current president was never vetted by the MSM or even by McCain. He fucks up all the time but he's gotten nothing but a pass from day one. In fact, people work overtime and ruin their credibility, reputations, and livelihoods to make sure he gets a pass and continues to get a pass. We're finding out stuff now that should have been general knowledge 4 years ago and 4 years from now we'll be finding out stuff that if it was revealed now might reflect poorly on the precious. A life spent in an echo chamber of grovelling yes-men does not produce a good outcome personality or policy wise. You should welcome some criticism of Obama.

When I first read about this, I figured that there was no way it could be unintended. Obama, after all, is the one who did the infamous face scratch gesture while mentioning Hillary Clinton, and he is the one who made the "lipstick on a pig" reference to Sarah Palin. Both of those incidents were designed with plausible deniability built right in, so I figured that this had to be more of the same.

Having considered the matter further, I'm willing to conceded that it could have been a case of cluelessly reading the teleprompter, but the fact that no one caught the potential double-entendre in reviewing the speech before he made the comment in front of a gay and lesbian group might be even more damning evidence of his administration's clueless insularity.